Improvement in key-boards for musical instruments



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L i u l i I l I a 'PATENT FFICE.

WILLIAM D. EDGAR, OF OTTAWA, KANSAS.

IMPROVEMENT IN KEY-BOARDS FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 119,335, datedSeptember 26, 1871.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, WILLIAM D. EDGAR, of' Ottawa, in the county ofFranklin and State of Kansas, have invented a new and Improved Key-Board for Musical Instruments 5 and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which willenable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, referencebeing' had to the accompanying drawing forming part or" thisspecification.

The object of this invention is to so arrange the key-board of organs,piano-fortes, melodeons, accordeons, dulcimers, and all other musicalinstrlnnents, that the keys can be struck in exact accordance with theprescribed notes in order to obtain the successive sounds ofthe severalscales. The major scale has eight simple tones in every octave. The sameare represented by the syllables do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si. Vith theusual arrangement, however, the reading` of music is made extremelydifficult, and in fact ceases to be exact reading, as the notes are notset right on the staff. All the sharps and flats occupy in writing theplaces belonging by right to the full notes, and can only be known byconstant reference to the explanatory marks at the beginning of thewritten music. By the aid of my invention these difficulties are to beentirely overcome, the keys on the key-boards, as well as the lines andspaces on the stai'r, being, for every new scale, named in accordancewith the equivalent names of such scale in vocal music. My invention isbased upon the proposition to give the full notes of every scale,however it may be started, the names do, re, mi, Ste., which the samesounds of vocal music would have. WV ith the same view I propose so toarrange the keys of the key-board that by the aid of an adjustable indexthe names of the keys will be varied in the same manner. The instrumentwill thereby become so simpliiied that every other scale can be playedaccording to the same rule which plays the O-scale, and that it can beplayed upon by note instead of letters. My invention will be betterunderstood by noticing that, while on the C-scale the notes O, d, e, f,g, a, Z) correspond, respectively, with the tones do, re, mi, fa, sol,la, si, the D-scale, if the tone do be applied to the iirst note, willcall mi and si for j' and C-sharp, yet the rule for ingering the latterscale is the same as for the first. Thus it is with every other scale,the key-boards of our instruments being all arranged for the O-scaleonly, the others being only played by; constant attention to thearbitrary signs of sharp and iat.

In the accompanying drawing, Figures l and 2 represent diagrams of myarrangement of keyboard and adjustable register. Fig. 3 is a plan or topview oi' the key-board and register. Fig. 4 is a plan view of anaccordeon having my improved register. Fig. 5 is a transverse section ofthe same.

Similar letters ot' reference indicate correspond ing parts.

The key-board I arrange with two rows, A and B, of keys, which Irespectively denominate the primary and secondary range of keys. All thenotes of the primary range are one tone apart. Those connected with thesecondary range occupy the intermediate half tones, and are, therefore,also just one intervall asunder. Thus the half tones can be produced bychanging from one range to another at any point. The iirst row containsthe notes A, B, O-sharp, D-sharp, F, G, A, etc. The second has the notesA-sharp, C, D, E, F- sharp, G-sharp, A-sharp, &c., as is clearlyindicated in Figs. l and 2. The complete piano keyboard shown in Fig. 3is arranged on the same plan. A slide, C, moving longitudinally at thehead ofthe key-board and carrying transverselyadjustable plates D and E,serves as the register or index for the several scales. Each of theplates D D is made long enough to embrace the width of four keys, whileeach of the others is only as long as to cover three keys. Marks for theseveral vocal sounds are painted or printed on the' plates D E.

Whenever a scale is to be played whose keynote is in the lower range Bthe plates D arc set for the upper or primary and the plates E for thelower or secondary range, as in Figs. l and 3. The bar or slide C can bemoved to bring the sign oi' do over that key which commences the scale.Thus in Fig. l. it is shown to be set on D, indicating that it is theD-scale. The keys indicated by the several marks can be played, theothers not. Thus, it is seen that on said D- scale the keys F-sharp andO-sharp are correctly indicated for play. By moving the slide so as tobring the do-mark over the key E, F-sharp, or

(Jl-sharp, the same degree of correctness will be found. For scaleswhose key-notes are in the upper range the plates D are moved down and Eup, so that the do-mark on the plate E can be set on the proper key. Theshanks a o of the plates D E are slotted to permit such lateraladjustment, or equivalent means are provided.

The plates with their marks indicate with great precision the keys to beplayed for each particular scale and permit music to be easily read andplayed in exact accordance with the writing.

It is evident that this arrangement is equally applicable to all musicalinstruments, even to accordeons, whose keys are set on a different plan,as each key regulates two tones, according as the bellows is expanded orcontracted. The

slide C of the accordeon is, therefore, not provided with the adjustableplates, but has four sides, each of which is marked in a different way,one for the primary, the other for the secondary row of expansion, thethird for the primary, and the fourth for the secondary row ofcontracting play. The adjustable plates D E may, if desired, also bedispensed with, either by having' a double slide or by properly markingone slide, so that au experienced player can tell to what row of keysthe marks pertain.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patentl. A key-board, having the two rows ot' keys A Barranged with the keys of one between the keys ofthe other, asdescribed, to enable a full tone to intervene between every two keys ofeach row.

2. The slide C and plates D E combined, as described, to serve as aregister, in the manner set forth.

WILLIAM D. EDGAR.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM S. DAY, F. A. WILKINSON.

